Pear-peeling machine



May 8, 1928. 1,669,263

c. J. PUGH PEAR FEELING MACHINE Filed NOV. 10, 1925 Patented May 8, 1928.-

UNITED STATES PATENT oFFlca. f

curronn a. scan. or man, oueon.

mean-rename momma 7 Application fled l lcvember 10, 1985. Serial No. 88,100.

' which will eliminate the necessity of any peeling expensive operation but one w the surface of which is an ich is.8-1mo st universally used at the present time.

- A further object is to provide a device of this character which is so constructed that it will not injure or mar the pear, and which is further so constructed that it will accom of the pears, by handf] modate the irregularities of the pear while at the same time applying sufiicient force to the year as to remove the skin therefrom. A still further object is to provide a mechanism of this character including a central cylinder rotating in one direction and carry ing pads of sponge rubber and an outer cage, as it were, or cylinder having spongev rubber on the inside face thereof an sponge rubber on the outer cylinder, the

outer cylinder being fixed, and the cylinders acting to rub the skin oil the pear, gradually turning the pear as it does so so that the skin will be rubbed off all portionsof the pear.

Another object is to provide means for. this purpose in which sponge rubber-strips are mounted upon theinner cylinder and outer cylinder and the pads of the outer the follow' cylinder are adjustable toward or fromthe ads of the inner cylinder-so that the space tween the cylinders maybe adjusted and the space, if desired, may be made narrower at the lower ends of the cylinders than at the upper ends thereof or vice versa.

Other objects will appear in the course'of descri tron. 7 My invention is i lustrated in the accom panying drawing,vvherein:-. Figure 1 is a side elevation of my fruit peeling machine, the outer and inner cylinders being shown in section;

Figure 2 is across sectional view through the outer and inner cylinders;

Figure 3 is a perspective yiew of one of the supportin strips showing the rubber block moun thereon;

' 12 and extending bearing is a sha t facing the Figure 4 is an under side plan view of the spraying pipe. I v

Referringto this drawing, 10 designates a supporting frame of any suitable character but shown as made up of angle irons and including an intermediate horizontal .frame 11 and an 'upper horizontal frame 12. A hearing member 13'is supported upon the frame 14, which shaft is suported in a bearing 15 on the lower frame 11. he shaft is operated by means of a beveled gear 16 engaged with the beveled. gear 17 on a horizontal shaft, in turn carryin a belt wheel 18 whereby power is conve e to the machine. I do not wish to be limited to ang'lparticular driving. mechanism.

, ounted-upon the shaft 14 is a cylinder 19 having attached to its face a plurality of vertically extending blocks or strips of sponge rubber, designated 20. These sponge ownward through this rubber strips or blocks are preferably about 7 .three and a half inches thick and the sponge i rubber may be'attached to the cylin er in any suitable manner, the blocks being placed in contact with each other and the outer corners of the blocks being rounded or beveled.-

Mounted exteriorly to the cylinder and in concentric relation thereto is an outer casin formed of vertically extending stri s 0% 'meta1-21 connected-at theirup er and ower ends -to circular hoops 22 at t e upper and lower ends of the plate or strips21. These hoops may be supported in any suitable manner from the frames 11 and 12and the plates 21 are attached to these hoops by means of bolts 23, eachboltcarryin twonuts 24 which permit the bolts to e adjusted inward or outward with reference to the hoops, it being understood that the bolts 23 are stud bolts projecting from the plates 21 and "rigid therewith. a Attached to-theinner face of each plate is a longitudinally extending block or strip ofsponge rubber 25, these blocks or strips being a most in contact'with each-other at their inner corners and the hoops being lar enough, as shown in Figure 2, to permit t e adjustment of the nuts 24 to shift the plates 21 inward or outward with reference to the hoops. A feed chute 26 extends downward and discharges fruit into the space between the inner and outer cylinders, and a water pipe 27 extends over the spacebetween the inner, and outer cylinders and is provided ion with spray openings by which water may be s rayed downward into the space between the cylinders and onto the fruit and at the lower end there is provided a discharge chute 28 which carries off the water and the skin which has been slipped from the fruit.

This machine is to be used with a stream of cold water continually flowing into the cylinder into which the pears are fed in order to wash the. eelings down, which peelings will'be discharged into the chute 28 along with the pears. ings and water will flow down the chute and the water will, of course, wash away the peelings or skins. I have found in actual practice that the sponge rubber is of particular value in this connection for the reason that while it is sufliciently elastic and soft to yield to the irregularities of the pears, it will be at the same time-sufficiently firm to completely rub off the skin of-the pear.

.Brushes must be made either with bristles which will not properly yield and will thus tend to scratch the fruit or else with bristles which are so soft that they will not entirely remove the spin. Sponge rubber blocks,

however, will not mar the fruit in any way but will act to remove the skin completely.

- In the use of this device, the pears are disposed in a hot saline solution. This so 'lutlon cooks the skins, which can then be 1 easily broken and slipped off the entire pear. It is, therefore, necessary that the'pears, after being submitted to the action of hot Water, be disposed in this machine in the space between the trough and inner cylinder, and as the inner cylinder rotates the pears will be rotated to some extent, the skins .will be slipped off, and the pears entirely cllllean and dropped down into the discharge c ute.

- Because pears are of an irregular shape,

'it is necessary in order that the machine shall run properly that rubber sponge shall be used for rubbing the skin off the pear, as this is the only material which will do the work without marring the fruit. It is also necessary that the side walls be adjustable, as it is necessary to adjustthe side walls for different thicknesses of pears. It is necessar with certain grades of pears that the cyhnder should be smaller at the bottom than at the top., The rubber sponge will be in long fiat strips, in: some instances as much as two feet w de, directly to the metal of the cylinder 19 or to the vertical strips 21'or be vulcanized onto an intermediate portion attached to these parts.

I claim i 1..- A machine for skinning fruit including in its organization an inner. cylinder having an outer surface composed of longitudinally extending strips of rubber sponge the rub her being of such thickness as to conform The pears, peeland may be applied and water from ,lndlS.

meaaee to the contour of the fruit and permit the fruit to be partially embedded in the rubber and an outer cylinder including vertically extending members having attached thereto vertically extending blocks of relatively thick rubber sponge, means for adjusting the strips of the outer cylinder toward or from the surface of the inner cylinder, and means for rotating one of said cylinders relative to the other.

2. A machine for skinning fruit including in its or anization a su porting frame, a vertical s aft supported by saidframe, an inner cylinder mounted upon said shaft and having its surface composed of vertically disposed blocks of sponge rubber, said rubber being of such thickness as to permit the fruit to be partially embedded in the rubber and the rubber to conform to the contour of the fruit, an outer cylinder disposed approximately concentric to the inner cylinder and including upper and lower hoops, vertically disposed strips adj'ustably engaged at their upper and lower ends with said hoops and can ing relatively thick, vertically extending a supporting frame, a vertical shaftmounted in said frame, means for rotating said shaft, a cylinder carried upon the shaft and having its outer face composed of vertically extending blocks of sponge rubber,

therubber being of such thickness that it will conform .to the contour of the fruit and permit the fruit to be slightly embedded therein, an outer Cylinder mounted upon the supporting frame and comprising upper and lower hoops, vertical plates extending between said hoops, vertical blocks of relatively thick sponge rubber carried upon said plates, stud bolts extending outward from said plates and passing through the hoops, apair of nuts mounted upon each stud bolt whereby the stud bolts may be adjusted rela-' tive to the hoops to thereby adjust the plates relative .to the inner cylinder, a pipe dischargingwater into the upper .end of the space between the outer and inner cylinders, a feed chute discharging fruit thereinto, and a discharge chute recelving fruit, peelings the lower ends of the cyl- In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature.

CLIFFORD J. PUGH. 

